Crew cab options

[Toby2]

Looking for advice. After several years overlanding in Aus / Trans Africa / Europe in a Landrover, I now have a growing family and so I'm looking round for a decent sized truck which I can put a camper body on the back. (Also I like trucks and toys and its a good reason to get something bigger).

Criteria are
1) I want a crew cab, I want to be able to have the family properly seated in the cab. Therefore need to be able to seat 2 adults and 2 children. (I know people sometime get round this by having kids travel in back but don't want to do this).

2) Can make do with limited camper body space but I'm 6ft 5" and I also need to accomodate wife, kids and decent sized dog. I want to be able to stand up in the camper body hence discounted SUV / Van sized options.

3) Want decent offroad ability. Quite in to my offroading and don't want to compromise to much on this capability.

4) Not looking to spend £100ks but equally don't want to go really old as want a decent cruising speed and decent reliability. I have a Unimog 404 and its great for playing offroad locally but would like to head off round the world in something more modern.

Against these criteria, the only options that I've been able to find are

1) Crew cab unimog - anywhere from a 1250 upwards. Extra long wheel base. Pros are reliability, good offroad ability, cons are cab part in crew cab format takes up a lot of the space meaning limit space for camper body.

2) Crew Cab MAN - style used by Unicat and others. Only con seems to be price as they have only been made for so long. Might not be quite so capable as Mog offroad, not sure.

Quite like the MAN KAT1 / KAT2 but I don't think there are any crew cab options because of where the engine is located.

Being UK based, don't get the international so don't know whether good or bad but discounted as don't have over here so would have to start importing.

Are there other options that meet my criteria that I've missed?

 

[Michael Slade]

This truck would work, but you'd have to re-configure the back box, or make one to your spec.

 

[charlieaarons]

This truck would work, but you'd have to re-configure the back box, or make one to your spec.

Um, a LR130 is a little smaller than the Unimogs and MANs he was talking about. Looks a little small for a 6'5" individual to stand up. And I think he said he wanted something bigger than an LR.
A MAN is definitely less offroad capable than a Mog: gearing not so low in low range by a large factor; CTIS not available any more in new ones, I've heard; no portal axles. But it can be geared faster on the road; however, remember that XZLs have speed ratings of 55-70 mph.
If you don't mind spending the money you could get the chassis lengthened on a Unimog up to 1 m; paying a price in maneuverability.
My wife and I have traveled distances with one grown daughter between us in the front of our U500.

Charlie

 

[Michael Slade]

Um, a LR130 is a little smaller than the Unimogs and MANs he was talking about.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. I was quick to pull the trigger, and didn't notice it was in the 'Mog forum.

IMO a MAN would be sweet!

 

[Chas Stricker]

Howdy Toby,
I saw a 1250L DoKa here locally with a really nice aluminum camper rig on back. He had the same wheelbase that I do and about the perfect size camper. I think weight would be the only issue. Charlie could really tell you about the U500's. They do make a 4door for those but if I'm not mistaken that alone is about a $40,000 add. I have huge room in my DoKa and love it for travelling with my family and tow the trailer. My kids are far enough apart to not have any(well not many) issues with cramped quarters. I think the newer U500's might be more practical with going down the road and passes. Mine will slow down for the passes. If nothing else it would be alot of fun to build one! Good Luck,
Chas

 

[findleywarren]

Toby, Like you I want it all in a vehicle. I have been hammering at the same issue's for years. So after all the reading and research it comes down to this.

You have to give up something

Take a look at your spec list again, how much wheeling are you going to do with a camper box that allows a 6ft 5inch guy to stand up? Take a look at the 1300 style mogs. May be your best bet but adding a camper to the back will get you close to your $100,000 number. Good Luck

 

[Toby2]

Thanks for all the comments. I have been focusing more on a Mog. As to how much wheeling I'm going to do in it with that size box on the back, i think it depends on types of wheeling - You can still do some pretty extreme stuff in the deserts in the Sahara / on mud through the congo. I would agree its not going to go so wheel boulder climbing but not intending using it for that. As to costs, down to the £ versus $, I am expecting to have to pay something towards the $100k (about £50k currently - £20k-£30k for the Mog, £15k-£20k for the camper body) I just don't want to pay £100ks which you start getting into with alot of the Unicat / Actionmobil vehicles.

Chas, how do you find touring in the Doka - eg easy to cruise down on the open road? Being UK based, any interesting stuff in the Sahara for example starts and finishes with a 2500km+ motorway run. How comfortable is the Doka for stuff like that? Would a 1650 be noticably different to drive to a 1250? U500s still look pretty pricey over here, especially if I add on the Doka conversion.

Cheers Tobias

 

[charlieaarons]

As to costs, down to the £ versus $, I am expecting to have to pay something towards the $100k (about £50k currently - £20k-£30k for the Mog, £15k-£20k for the camper body) I just don't want to pay £100ks which you start getting into with alot of the Unicat / Actionmobil vehicles.


Cheers Tobias

I think you are grossly underestimating the cost of building a quality camper body. It really adds up - electronics, water supply, heating, fridge/freezer, double pane windows, batteries.
Please keep us informed of how things work out.

Charlie

 

[findleywarren]

Ditto on the underestimation of a camper build cost-

check out this site

http://www.xor.org.uk/unimog/uksell/uksell.htm

 

[charlieaarons]

Look at www.hellgeth.de , "products", "wheeled vehicles". Their "Bigfoot Unimog" is 33,900 euro. A 1300 with 170hp turbo conversion and 475/80R20 XMLs. Might be a nice camper chassis with heavy duty springs. With CTIS you'd have trouble getting stuck.

Charlie

 

[Chas Stricker]

Chas, how do you find touring in the Doka - eg easy to cruise down on the open road? Being UK based, any interesting stuff in the Sahara for example starts and finishes with a 2500km+ motorway run. How comfortable is the Doka for stuff like that? Would a 1650 be noticably different to drive to a 1250? U500s still look pretty pricey over here, especially if I add on the Doka conversion.

Cheers Tobias[/QUOTE]

Howdy Tobias,
I think the 1250L is a great chassis. It might be better to go with a heavier chassis for a really large "heavy" camper. David Gudmundson(sp) known as Kroctec on benzworld.org unimog forum. He is building a 1650 DoKa for expeditionary work. He is definitely not cutting corners and will open your eyes on what cost can be incured. He is located in the upper Highlands of Scotland, UK. My truck is very comfortable with my family and cruises at 55-65mph. It will do 75mph for passing and racing 911's. Power on the passes is not impressive. I've towed a trailer for camping and it does very well. The ride is smooth for a large truck. Mog cabs due rock back and forth a bit. If you go this route get the working gears. I'd also look at the overdrive or superfast highway gears. I think the perfect setup would be normal gears with the overdrive. You get double the gear ratios to better match the need. I have the superfast gears, working gears and crawler gears. The spread between 7th and 8th is about 12 miles and will fall on its face between shifts, especially heavy and under load on passes. I hope this isn't too long winded for you. Would I buy the same truck again? YES. We love this thing,
Chas

 

[Toby2]

Found my old thread as I was looking for some info so thought I'd update it. 6 years on and we finally sorted a truck. Bought a crew cab Merc 1124 4x4 fire engine. Typical for fire engine, crewcab is a bit oversized and would prefer extra couple of feet for camper body but should be good to work with. Arrives Friday.